PROJECTION SCREENS – A comprehensive product line for any application.

PROJECTION SCREENS turn meetings into media events and home theaters into entertainment experiences. Your office or conference room is video-conference-ready with the right projection screen. Clear, concise graphics make any meeting more productive.CONTROLS

Draper@Home Newsletter

Issue 11 – October 2016

#TheBuzz

Draper has long been known to the CI market as a top projection screen manufacturer, and also as a company who makes shades. All that changed at CEDIA 2016, as Draper showcased the versatility and depth of their offering of shades focused on the needs of integrators.

There are also hundreds of possible operation/control variations. From controlling a single shade with a wall switch or handheld remote, to controlling banks of shades separately, to setting up scenes for different day parts, to reacting to current sun conditions, to tying into automation systems—there’s a Draper shade and control solution for your project.

Installation choices range from simple mounting brackets, to endcaps and fascia, to complete extruded pockets with bottom closure panels. And those choices are available with whichever motor and control method you choose.

Add to that a line of decorative fabrics, and we can create a shading system to fulfill any design imagined—from bold styles that allow you to express your personal style, to translucent textures that add panache while diffusing the light, to room darkening fabrics which completely control light and privacy.

With more than 110 years of knowledge and experience in window shades, Draper can also do something other shade manufacturers can only dream of: develop custom solutions to meet new needs in an always evolving environment.

#DraperTools

With all of our recent talking to all of you about Draper shades on the AV side, we wanted to be sure and let you know about some of the online tools that are available to help you figure things out.

One such tool is our Window Shades Fabric Selection Tool. This tool lets you click and compare various colors from different fabric manufacturers, so you can get an idea of which works best with you. Complete specification information on each color swatch is available at the click of your mouse. Click here to go to the Selection Tool and give it a try!

Another really handy online tool we offer is our Window Shades View-Through Simulation. With this tool, you can get an idea of how different colors and openness factors look on a window. You can click back and forth and compare various combinations. To try this tool: (http://www.draperinc.com/windowshades/viewthroughsimulator.aspx)

We have other tools available as well, including window shade order forms and more. Sign in to the Draper Pro Portal and go to the Draper Pro Toolbox to see more.

#HomeOnPearl

(left to right) Mike Broome, John Pidgeon, Chris Broome

Over the past few years, Draper has been in the news several times for receiving awards. First we were named America’s Healthiest Employer, and then one of the Best Places to Work in Indiana. And let’s not forget all of those awards we won for new products, like TecVision and the Access FIT. But now we’ve received one of our biggest honors yet. Draper has been inducted into the Indiana Manufacturers Hall of Fame!

We were one of 18 Hoosier companies in the inaugural Hall of Fame class.

Draper started in 1902 as a window shade manufacturer. Company founder Luther O. Draper traveled around central Indiana selling shades to schools. From that beginning, Draper has not only survived but thrived for more than a century, growing to have over 600 employees without ever having a layoff, expanding our product offerings, and reaching out globally. So to what can Draper’s long-term success be attributed?

“A great group of employees, hard work, an occasional good decision and a bit of luck,” according to John Pidgeon. “Probably the most important event in Draper’s history was my father’s decision to begin manufacturing projection screens in 1957.”

John’s father—Luther Pidgeon—was the grandson of company founder Luther Draper. His invention of the V Screen in the late 1950s did, as John says, chart a new course ahead for the company. But he points out there have been other big moments as well.

“There have been two other seminal events during the time (vice president of manufacturing and John’s cousin) Mike Broome and I have been here,” John says. “First was the invention of the video projector and its linkage to the personal computer. Then there was our decision in 1989 to introduce the FlexShade Systems line of window shades for the commercial market.”

John says another key point was the company’s decision to enter the gymnasium equipment market in 1994.

Just because Draper has been inducted into the Manufacturing Hall of Fame, though, don’t think we’re done growing and innovating. Just the opposite, in fact. Draper is planning several new and updated products in the coming months, and work is underway on an expansion to our manufacturing facilities in Spiceland.

John Pidgeon puts future plans this way: “To continue to be a good corporate citizen, and always be on the lookout for new long-term growth opportunities.”

Congrats to company management, owners, and employees past and present for this recognition!

#DraperSocial

Some social media posts for you this month:

Post One (109 characters)

Come to us with questions on @DraperInc window shades, home health, & aging in place. http://ow.ly/4GTS304GQTd

Post Two (139 characters)

We can hide your main speaker(s) behind the projection screen with @DraperInc’s acoustically transparent materials: http://ow.ly/TZSU305oV5W